The
refreshing Triund Trek
(27th Aug., 13)
I hadn’t heard of or thought of
trekking Triund, until the night before I put it on my “to visit list”. I took
one month’s Monsoon break, to attend my big brother’s marriage at my village
Chango in Kinnaur. The marriage ended on a fine note on 19th Aug.,
where I got the chance to dance continuously for three nights, that’s also till
dawn, the magic of the Kinnauri music being on full air. Then, few days I spent
meeting my relatives, whom I hardly get to meet otherwise, due to my job in a
faraway place like Mumbai.
On 24th Aug. I left
for Chandigarh, my second home along with my sisters and cousins. As one of my
sister, Tsering; a nun who studies in Trilokpur nunnery in Kangra district, was
also travelling with me, and she had to leave the next day for her nunnery, I
said,” I’ll come along with you till Kangra.” She was more than happy to listen
to that. As I’ve been to her nunnery and Dharamshala quite a number of times
earlier, I asked her to show me the places around, which I haven’t seen there
till date. She was like,” I’ll take you to Bhagsunag waterfalls.” That was the
deal; first Bhagsunag, and then visit the monastery and if time permits to have
the audience of Karmapa. I had only one day at my disposal, as back to
Chandigarh, I had to pack for my Kashmir Trip.
We reached Mcloedganj, by 5:00 pm
on 26th August, and we booked a room at one of the Tibetan
guesthouses for two nights. We rested for a while and then got ready to roam
around at Mcloedganj Market. While Tsering was getting ready, my hands grabbed
her mobile, which had internet facility, as mine was useless, I just googled
for places to see, and what my eyes fell on, was just the ‘TREK TO TRIUND’. The
moment she came out of the washroom, I said,” we’ll go first on this trek and
then the rest.” She widened her gaze, “Are
you crazy? I can’t trek.” I said,”
Believe me, you’ll love it!” But her reluctance let me down too, and I just
dropped the idea, leaving it for some other time. But Triund was calling me.
And my firm belief in “what’s meant to be, will always find a way’
became stronger, when I ran into Mr. Vikram, one of my flying instructor, at a
bookstore. We were so surprised and mutually happy to see each other at such an
unexpected place, that we decided to sit and chat, and dinner was the answer
for that. The three of us went to a restaurant, and had light conversations
about life, travel and Buddhism. My
adrenaline pumped up, when he said,” Why
don’t you guys go for Triund trek, it would
be quite awesome! ” I took that as a sign for Triund’s call.
I and Tsering looked at each
other, and I said,” Please, say yes.”
She was quite shy to comment, so she just smiled and I took it as her approval.
I said to Mr. Vikram,” why don’t you join
us, we all will trek together!” But he had to go to Dalhousie early next
morning.
Tsering got ready for the trek
reluctantly. We left our hotel room by 8:05 am, had our breakfast at a roadside
dhaba, and kept walking ahead, following the signboard and asking people where
there was some confusion. Some people guided us to take taxi till Dharamkot,
from where we could trek, but we preferred to walk, and reached Dharamkot in almost
30 mnts.
As it was the rainy season, we
came across many worms, big-small on our way, about which we had to be very
careful, lest they shall come under our feet and be crumpled to death.
From Dharamkot, till Gallu the
trek was quite moderate, as the path had been widened for the sake of all. We
kept moving and clicking pictures. Tsering made faces, giving tired gestures
all the way, and I kept her promising that ‘it would be one of her most
memorable moments’. One thing which kept her occupied was her love for clicking
pictures and posing herself, which came as a rescue to her bad mood. Lol
“While walking through these
paths, fully surrounded by nature and its love for us, and listening to its
musical tunes, I felt and realized ‘how blessed I am’!”” J
“Refreshing Nature and our
soul-touching smiles.” JJJ
It was a 9 km trek, which took us
around 5 hours of leisurely trek. We stopped on and off to rest and click the
pictures, wherever we felt. Going up and up, we saw the beauty to Dhauladhar
ranges, and the city of Dharamshala, which looked beautiful from above.
 |
| the dark green forests; the lovely forests |
 |
| "The Blessed soul" |
The Pine and Deodar trees, which
form lush green forest at Dhauladhar ranges, are the real treasure of Kangra
Valley. A real blessing for the
inhabitants, as well as for the tourists, who come here searching for peace and
seeking spirituality!!!
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| Add caption |
After almost 3 hours of trek, on
the way we found two small shops, and we decided to have tea or some eatables,
before going ahead, as by that time, we felt our bellies growling. We stopped
at the Magic view Café, which was the oldest at that top, and from where the
view, was really ‘MAGICAL’.
 |
| "The Magic!!" |
I say,” Guys look at the picture, and say something. I know you’ll be
speechless, only your eyes would widen along with your rounded mouth!” ;-)
The stuffs were quite expensive
there, including the tea; but it was justifiable by the kind of trouble they
take to transport the things uphill the top, carried on horseback and mules all
the way from the city.
As we progressed, bunches of
clouds started forming, and heavy but beautiful fogs welcomed us, limiting our
vision to a short distance only, as if it’s telling us to enjoy the view just
near us, for the rest of the beauty awaited us, as we kept moving ahead. Every
walk ahead; I mean at every step, I felt the bliss. Hmm. J
“If I had a soul-mate on earth, its
Nature, for with nature I feel whole.””
It took us
another one and half an hour, and finally we reached the top, (9325 ft/2842:26
mt) and the view was just magically ‘Awesome’.
 |
| To nature," I love you, I love you and I just love you. I can't imagine a life without you."" <3 |
Tsering also
showed her teeth finally, and posed with a ‘victory’ sign, which made me feel
even more happy and blessed. We walked all around and viewed the ranges from
all sides; some sunny, some foggy, some rocky and some lush green; all were
just soul-touching and refreshingly re-rejuvenating.
 |
We sat there
for 2 hours, and had maggi and tea; eating at the top, in such a blissful
environment was quite an experience. We both loved it. People there were busy
with their own things; some setting up their camps for the night, some chatting
with the locals, some getting ready to go ahead trekking for another 10-11 kms
trek to Lake Kareri. We had our day, and with happy memorable moments, we
started descending down at around 3:00 pm. Our downward speed was faster, and
sudden heavy downpour quickened our pace even more. We had only one umbrella,
so I gave the bag to Tsering and preferred walking in the rain, which I loved a
lot. Tsering wasn’t used to such thing, so she had some trouble, which I hope
she would have coped. By the time we were about to reach Dharamkot, the rain
stopped. We looked up in the sky, and there was a beautiful rainbow, smiling at
us and blessing us.
The trek was a
real 5 ***** ‘AWESOME’.”” Thanks to Sister Tsering, for the company, and
special thanks to Mr. Vikram for his words, which made this trek possible.
After all “what’s meant to be, will always find a way”, and Triund had already
called us!
(All smilesss…. JJ
J J J: Nawi: The Lil
Wanderer!)
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